That hashtag is an action tag campaign!
Hashtag this and hashtag that. How many times do you hear that word or see that word on social media pages? It’s a Twitter thing, but hashtags are more than an online marketing tool to spark interest and drive trends. Companies are finding more cool ways to get consumers engaged in social media by first catching their eyes on the television. We’re obviously used to seeing TV commercials, informing us of what’s new in stores or the next big thing on the way to the market. With that said, a commercial is a brilliant segue into boosting social traffic.
Recently Oreo ran a clever commercial during the Grammy Awards to promote a new cookie flavors. The ad encouraged viewers to tweet #sendmeoreo in order to receive a free bag of the new cookie flavors. The end resulted in Oreo running out of cookies to give away. Pretty smart right? But how would it work otherwise – using a commercial to boost social traffic for your company. How does an action tag campaign work for services?
A product that is completely consumer friendly and well-loved such as and Oreo cookie has an easier in with social networking. Plus who doesn’t know the brand by now? Action tag campaigns are popping up for major branded companies. A company that offers a product that is readily available for shipping, such as cookie, has a better chance at reaching consumer hands than something like automotive services. The idea of boosting social traffic and ramping up a new Twitter trend is not easy as it forces you to evaluate how good of a product you have. Consumers only run towards goods that spark their interest, usually a physical product they can buy and use right away, but building brand awareness for a service is not the same.
Although we don’t have a product that we can talk about on a commercial and get consumers to tweet about, we do, however, have a service that doesn’t run out. For example, we offer The Vault, a heavy-duty backup service that keeps your servers protected and updated every 15 minutes. You can order The Vault for your company’s IT networking, but we cannot send it to you UPS – it’s not a bag of cookies. Furthermore, outside of business IT services, the average consumer does not have The Vault branded on their minds. It would be an ultimate challenge to get people tweeting about it through the TV platform. The flipside is that it does require some action so an action tag campaign could work.
With that being said, one has to understand the services they offer and how to strategically make it desirable. What will make someone tweet my hashtag, #OpenTheVault? Writing compelling tweets can get you a retweet if it sparks curiosity. (Do you want to know what’s in The Vault? #OpenTheVault Have you seen what’s in The Vault? #OpenTheVault) Now you want to know what’s in The Vault…right? It takes a fun approach to rhetoric with a splash of psychology to get someone intrigued enough to investigate the offer. You don’t know what’s in The Vault – it could be anything. Ambiguity in a TV ad is the key.
Does your company use action tag campaigns? If so, what was your approach? Leave us a comment!